It hits every high school athlete at some point – the reality check that comes along with a senior season – when an athlete realizes it's their last opportunity to win and leave behind a legacy at their respective school.

For the seven seniors playing for West Florida baseball, head coach Marc Conti believes that realization has effectively sunk in. And it seems outfielder Bryant Johnecheck and catcher Dalton Wise have benefited the most from it.

“I think once all kids hit that senior year, they kind of step back and realize that this is it,” Conti said. “They realize that they’ve got to take action now and put forth the effort. They realize that they don’t have someone else to look up to and that everyone is looking at them.

"This senior group has really seemed to get that they have got to lead this team.”

Both players described their performances last season as “decent” but have taken their focus and maturity one step further this year.

The result has been strong leadership and great production on the field — West Florida is 8-6 overall but is 3-1 in District 1-6A play.

Johnecheck, a 6-foot, 190-pound outfielder, bats cleanup for West Florida (and leads the team with a .444 batting average and five doubles.

He admits he was guilty of going through the motions at times last year. Through 14 games last season, Johnecheck had .156 batting average.

“Bryant has been an adventure,” Conti said. “The guy has all of the ability in the world. It looks like I’m finally getting to see the player that he can be this year. I think he’s realizing that it’s his senior year and he can really do something. He’s realizing that it takes a team to win and you’ve got to put in the effort to be a leader.

"I’ve told him these younger kids are going to follow him. It’s up to him which road they follow him down.”

As for Wise — a 6-foot, 160-pound catcher — he has a .423 on base percentage as West Florida’s lead off hitter. But his primary leadership comes defensively as a catcher, where he has a .979 fielding percentage and five assists this season.

With his fiery intensity on top of that, he makes quite the vocal leader for West Florida.

“Dalton really strives to do his best, but when he doesn’t meet that he gets a little too frustrated at times,” Conti said. “He can lose control of himself a little bit. I’ve told him that’s not how you solve things. But he’s very competitive and has done a great job at changing the way he works. He’s started to worry about the next step in front of him and not what’s behind him. He’s a leader that I’ve been looking for for a long time.”

Conti said that each of his seniors lead in a unique way and it has greatly improved the teams overall focus in practices and games.

West Florida is currently in first place in District 1-6A and has had a lead in all but two games this season.

“Right now people might be doubting us because we don’t have the best record, but I believe we can beat anybody in the area when we play a complete game,” Johnecheck said. “Dalton and I are pretty close. We are always trying to get the team up. I’m a little more mellow approach and he’s more of a fire coming at you approach, but it’s all the same in the end.

“Coach Conti has been a big help. He and I have had a lot of talks … about playing right and acting right. But we are close and always are talking about what to do better for the team.”

West Florida’s last district championship came in 2015 – which makes it the longest drought in program history without capturing a district title.

But with senior leadership within the pitching staff – led by J.J. Pease and Quinton Rayburn – combined with Dylan Pitts, Wyatt Whyner and Billy Kaser all pitching in at the plate, West Florida is confident it can add to its list of district championships and go further than that this season.

“We are playing pretty solid right now. We have had our ups and downs but we always bring it together,” Wise said. “I think we’ve gotten our faults out of the way and we’re going to go straight up from here.

“On the field, Bryant and I are like brothers. We are always on each other but never in a bad way. We know how far we can go with it. We push each other to the verge and then come out and play and give it everything we’ve got.”

The next step for West Florida will be a tough, non-district game at Pace on Thursday night.

Pace (9-3, 2-0 District 1-7A) is also in first place in its district and effective in all aspects of the game. It will be the first time Pace and West Florida have played in six years.

“When you play Pace you know you’re facing a good program,” Conti said. “They are a team that won’t beat themselves. We can’t count on someone making an error for Pace. We’ve got to knock someone in to score. Those are the teams you want to play so when playoffs come around, you are in better shape."